India’s Nuberg Engineering has been awarded a $15m contract to expand a chlor-alkali chemicals plant in Abu Dhabi.

The company was awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by project owner Al-Ghaith Industries and will double the plant’s capacity to 280 tonnes a day (t/d).

Nuberg is already in the process of commissioning the initial plant with 140 t/d capacity, after winning a $19m EPC contract on the project. The plant is due to come onstream in the first quarter of 2015.

The plant will also produce co-products such as hydrochloric acid, sodium hypochlorite and calcium carbonate.

According to Al-Ghaith, the expansion will make the company the leading producer of caustic soda in the Gulf region.

Caustic soda is mostly used as a strong chemical base in the manufacture of pulp and paper, textiles, drinking water, soap and detergents.